Door mounted, door operated holder for collapsible limp bags

ABSTRACT

A support bracket holds one end, each, of a pair of arms which are arranged to have a refuse bag threaded over the open ends. The bracket is adapted to be mounted on a kitchen cabinet door, for example on an under-sink cabinet door. The movable arm is pivoted, and the arms are held either together, or spread apart, by a spring travelling over the pivot point. The arms are spread apart by an operating member, such as a rod having an end secured to the kitchen sink frame so that, upon opening the door, the mouth of the bag will be spread apart by the arms, for placing of refuse therein, and, upon closing of the door, the spring will snap the arms together to hold the bag within the cabinet with its mouth resiliently closed.

United. States Patent 1191 Lake [ 51 Apr. 3, 1973 [75] Inventor: Connie Lake, Pittsford, N.Y.

[73] Assignee: Mobil Oil Corporation, New York,

[22] Filed: Aug. 10, 1970 [21] App1.No.: 62,475

[52] U.S. Cl. ..3l2/237, 312/275, 248/99 [51] Int. Cl.....A47b 83/00, A47b 81/00, B65b 67/04 [58] Field of Search ..232/43.2; 248/95, 99, 101;

220,235 4/1958 Australia ..248/99 1,169,313 12/1958 France .312/275 290,295 10/1913 Germany ..248/99 Primary ExaminerPaul R. Gilliam Attorney-Oswald G. Hayes, Andrew L. Gaboriault and James D. Tierney [57] ABSTRACT A support bracket holds one end, each, of a pair of arms which are arranged to have a refuse bag threaded over the open ends. The bracket is adapted to be mounted on a kitchen cabinet door, for example on an under-sink cabinet door. The movable arm is pivoted, and the arms are held either together, or spread apart, by a spring travelling over the pivot point. The arms are spread apart by an operating member, such as a rod having an end secured to the kitchen sink frame so that, upon opening the door, the mouth of the bag will be spread apart by the arms, for placing of refuse therein, and, upon closing of the door, the spring will snap the arms together to hold the bag within the cabinet with its mouth resiliently closed.

8 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PATENTEU 7 3.724.921

SHEET 2 OF 5 /nven/0r 60/70/29 La/re DOOR MOUNTED, DOOR OPERATED HOLDER FOR COLLAPSIBLE LIMP BAGS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a door mounted, door operated refuse bag holder, and more particularly to a refuse bag holder of about 8 10 liters capacity which can be mounted at the inside of an under-sink 10 cabinet door and is provided with an operating mechanism which will automatically spread the mouth of the bag apart when the door is opened, for insertion of refuse, and hold the mouth portions of the bag securely closed together when the door is closed. The bag holder is particularly adapted to be used with disposable refuse bags of polyethylene, or the like.

Refuse cans, and the like, which are mounted on swinging doors, for example on cabinet doors, undersink, or under-counter cabinets, and the like are known; some types of such refuse containers hav'e lids which open automatically when the door is opened, for placement of refuse therein. Most containers of this type have insert pails, which are emptied when the container is full. The lids close over the entire can, and hardly ever close tightly against the pail inserts. Thus, odors can escape and insects can enter. Tight-fitting lids are difficult to construct, and even more difficult to maintain. Inadvertent rough handling can easily throw even a well fitting lid out of alignment. Additionally, the fit of the lid against the insert liner, or against the container as a whole is difficult to check since the lid is open when the door is open, and when the lid should close access to the then closed kitchen cabinet door is frequency difficult, and sometimes impossible.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a sanitary refuse container and holder, for mounting in a kitchen cabinet door, particularly an under-sink cabinet, which will be open, ready to accept refuse when the door is opened, which will close securely to prevent escape of odors and ingress of vermin, which is readily adapted to be used with disposable refuse bags and, the operation of which preferably can be checked.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly, a support bracket carries a pair of openended arms, to which a bag can be secured, for example by threading a cuffed bag thereover, so that the bag will hang from the arms. One arm is movable, and the other preferably fixed. The movable arm, swingable over a pivot point, is movable between an open and a closed position. In the open position, the arms will be spread apart, holding the mouth of the bag distended. In the closed position, the arms are held together, so that the cuffed ends of the bag will bear against each other. A spring holds the movable arm in open, or in closed position. Preferably, the spring travels over the pivot point, that is over the center, to hold the arms either apart, or in closed, snapped together tight position.

To open and close the arms, an operating member is secured, or engageable with the movable arm. In one form, the operating member is a rod which is attached at one end to a plate secured to the arm, and at another end to the support frame of the door. Upon opening of the door, the rod will pull the arm for a sufficient distance, at least until the spring travels over the pivot center, so that the spring will completely open the bag. Upon reverse motion, the arm will be pushed by the rod until the spring again travels over center, the spring then securely closing the two arms against each other. By unhooking the operating member, the secure closing of the arms can be checked even when the door is open, since the operating rod will not, itself, effect closing of the arms against each other.

' In accordance with another embodiment, a camming disk is provided on the movable arm, engageable with a camming member secured to the frame, for example to the jamb of the door. Upon swinging of the door, the camming disk will engage the camming pin, at least for a distance sufficient to cause the spring to travel over center to move the arm between the open and closed positions.

Polyethylene plastic bags are usually delivered in flat form. To provide a substantially square, or rectangular opening, at least one of the arms is preferably hinged intermediate its length. The other arm may also have a hinge, or may be pre-formed, for example by bending. A cuffed bag threaded on the arms will then be opened, the arms being prevented from swinging freely since the material of the bag, itself, will control a permitted position of the arms.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment, the control rod, and the arms are so arranged that the bracket is preferably secured close to the striker side of the door, rather than at the hinge side, so that the arms will extend from the outwardly swinging portion towards the hinges of the door. If the bracket, and the operating mechanism are arranged to accept this position of the bracket on the door, then, it has been found, less space is required by the bag holder since it will close quicker, thus enabling mounting the bag holder higher on an under-sink cabinet without interference with a sink unit extending behind the door of the sink cabinet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description considered in conjunction with the drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a general perspective view of one form of the bag holder, with a bag, installed in an under-sink cabinet;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of one embodiment installed in a door, with the door closed;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2, with the door, after opening, being closed and showing the operation of the mechanism;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 2, with the door, after opening, and still almost completely open;

FIG. 5 is a schematic perspective view of a different embodiment of bag holder installed in an under-sink cabinet;

FIG. 6 is a top view of the bag holder of FIG. 5, installed in a door, with the door closed;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the door holder, closed, and taken separately;

FIG. 8 is a progressive top view showing another embodiment of the invention, in various positions of opening, the bag holder, when closed, being shown:

when partly open being shown:

and when almost fully open being shown:

and FIG. 9 illustrates an embodiment of the inven tion utilizing a fixed cam to operate the door holder.

A plastic bag, for example a polyethylene bag of approximately l-2 mil wall thickness and generally illustrated at B is suspended from two arms 20, 30, which, in turn, are secured to a door D by means of a bracket 10. The arms are operated between open and closed position by an operating arrangement 50, secured to the frame F of the cabinet in which the door is hinged. Thus, the operating apparatus is secured at one end to a point which is fixed with respect to the swinging of the door D. A spring 40 is secured to the movably mounted arm 20. Spring 40 may be duplicated by-a spring 40a below the bracket 10.

The bag B can be secured to the arms 20, 30 in any convenient manner; in a preferred form of the invention, however, the bag is cuffed at the mouth portion, to provide an open tube so that it can be slipped, or threaded over the arms 20, 30. The bracket 10 is preferably mounted near the striker side of the door, so that the open ends of arms 20, 30 will extend towards the hinged side of the door. The operating mechanism can be so adjusted that the arms close as the door closes, and will hold the bag closed in advance of complete closing of the door, so that the arms will present little interference with the depending portionof a' sink mounted in the cabinet, permitting high mounting of the bracket 10 and placing of a bag of substantial capacity, for example of 8 to 10 liters thereon. If a support shelf is provided at the bottom of the door, to take up'some of the weight of contents which may be placed in the bag, the size of the bag can by substantially increased, that is more than doubled, without danger that the .bag may tear near the mouth portion where it is suspended from the arms. If a non-cuffed bag is used, then it may be suspended from the arms by clips, snap-rods, or the like, as known.

Details of the suspension system for the bag and operation will best be understood by comparing the position of the arms in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, which show the bag holder alone, with the bag omitted for purposes for clarity of drawing.

The movable arm is pivoted over a pivot point 23 and has secured thereto an operating plate 24 which provides at an upturned edge 25 an attachment point for spring 40. Pivot 23 is journalled in bracket 10; bracket 10 provides an attachment point 11 for the other end of spring 40. Bracket 10 may, for example, be formed with a pair of parallel plates, that is to be essentially U-shaped with a bend of the U extending perpendicularly to the plane of the paper in FIG. 2, to provide suitable bearings for pivot 23; any other equivalent arrangement can be used.

The operating mechanism 50 comprises a rod 51 which is secured to a pivoted eye 52 held in a bracket 53 which, in turn, is secured to the frame F of the door. A pair of stops 54, 54', which may be adjustable along the length of rod 51 limit the amount of travel of rod 51 with respect to eye 52.

The arms 20, may take various forms. In one form (FIGS. 2-4) the arms are articulated somewhat intermediate their length to provide arm portions 21, 31 and 22, 32 linked together by hinges 26, 36. Springs 27, 37 tend to press the outer arm portions 22, 32 together. The inner arm portions 21, 31 during operation, may

spread apart (FIGS. 3, 4) until they reach the position shown in FIG. 1. The outer arm portions 21, 31 will have their tips biased into adjacent position, as seen in FIG. 1, by the springs 27, 37. If the size of the mouth opening of the arm is about the same as the length of the two arms taken together, then the springs may be omitted since the resiliency of the bag itself will tend to keep the open ends of arms 20, 30, in the position shown in FIG. 1, even when the inner arm portions 21, 31, are spread apart during operation as seen in FIG. 1.

Upon opening the closed door D from the position shown in FIG. 2 to the position shown in FIG. 3, pull will be exerted on rod 51 which will tend to force the plate 24, secured to arm 20, to pivot with arm 20 over pin 23. The door must be opened against this pull, that is against the force of the spring 40. As the door is being opened, the spring 40 will gradually travel over the center of pin 23 as seen, for example, in FIG. 3 and, upon further opening of the door will move from the left hand side of the pivot pin 23 (FIG. 2) to the right hand side of FIG. 4, permitting again, a certain contraction so that the arms 20, 30 will be snapped open as the spring travels over the pivot center. The spring, thus, provides a toggle action which will tend to hold the suspended bag either spread apart, or closed. Upon closing of the door, the stop 54 on rod 51 will engage eye 52, forcing plate 24 to the right (with respect to the hinge on the door FIG. 4) and causing the spring to travel over the center of the hinge pin 23, that is towards the position of FIG. 3. As soon as the spring.

has passed the center of the hinge pin 23, it can again contract and the two arms 20, 30 will close tightly, and with a snap. Thus, operation of the closing of the bag, to prevent escape of odors, ingress of vermin and the like can be checked even while the door is still open..By providing an adjustable spring, for example having one end threaded into a screw stud, the tension of the spring can be adjusted; alternatively, longitudinally staggered spring openings to catch the spring in the upstanding edge 25, can be provided. The small springs 27, 37, tending to hold the tips of the inner, free end portions of the arms 22, 32 together can be small and quite weak since they only have to operate the arms against a possible tendency of the bag not to open completely; the spring 40, however, should be sufficiently strong so that the mouth of the bag B will be securely closed.

FIGS. 5 and 6 illustrate an alternative form of construction in which one arm, arm 20 is preformed with a bend intermediate its length; the other arm 30' has an intermediate hinge point 36 which, when the door opens, holds the mouth of the bag spread apart and, when the door is closed, permits the arms to lie snugly against each other. FIG. 5 illustrates the bag holder of this type with a bag attached, in a cabinet; FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate the bag holder in greater detail.

The basic concept is the same; a plate 24' is attached to a movable arm, this time the arm 31' to force the arm apart from the other upon opening of the door. In closed position, spring 40' holds the two arms closed together. Hinge point 36 permits folding of the movable arm section 31 against the fixed, deformed arm 21, 22' which is bent at a point 26' matching the pivot point 36' of the other arm. A small spring 37 may again be provided if the bag itself does not provide the necessary resiliency to hold the inner ends of the arms tightly closed together. Operating rod 51' is hooked into an extension of plate 24' at one end, and at the other is secured to the frame F of the door in a manner similar to that previously explained. The construction of FIGS. 6 and 7 does not require a separate attachment bracket, since the bent arm 20' can be directly secured to the door, as schematically indicated at 11. The operating rod 51' again, upon opening of the door, will cause the spring 40' to travel over the pivot center 23' of the movable arm which will snap open when the spring travels over center, the free tips of the arms being held in proximity to each other either by spring 37 of by the bag itself. The bag is best threaded over the arms when the door is fully opened; a cuff, which is slit at one, or, if desired two diametrically opposite points and then readilly be slipped over the arms.

If it is not necessary for the user to provide a toggle action when the bag is to be closed, but merely to provide a self-opening bag support, then the construction of FIG. 8 can be used. FIG. 8, in solid line position, shows a pair of arms 80, 85. Arm 85 is fixedly connected to door D, for example by means of an attachment block 70. The arms 80, 85 are articulated about a pivot point 81, 86 respectively. The movable arm 80 is pivoted to arm 85 at a pivot point 82, and a small spring 83 is provided tending to force the arms apart. A pair of stops 84, 87 are secured to the cabinet, for example underneath the frame thereof, or beneath a counter top attached to the cabinet. The stops 84, 87 are secured to a slotted plate 88, 88', respectively,

which can be adjusted laterally of the arms. Preferably the arms 84, 87 are depending pins of somewhat resilient material, such as nylon, rubber-covered metal, or the like, so that they will have a slight amount of give and can be set and adjusted so that the two arms 80, 85 will close tightly against each other when the door is in closed position. This kind of construction is most suitable for a double-door cabinet permitting access to the mechanism through an adjacent door, even with the door to which the bag support is attached is closed. Upon opening of the door, spring 83 will force the arms apart from the solid line position to the chain dotted position, the free ends of the arms assuming their converging position when a bag having a mouth opening of approximately the same circumference as the length of both arms, together, is slipped over the arms. The bag has been omitted for clarity in FIG. 8 as well.

providing the feature of an over center spring holding the arms closed'together by toggle action is shown in FIG. 9, where portions of the mechanism not essential to an understanding of the operation, and previously explained, have been omitted. An arm arrangement, similar to that of FIG. 1, for example, has a camming disk secured to the movable arm. A spring is located beneath the camming disk, arranged similar to the embodiment of FIG. I. A stop member is secured to the frame of the cabinet. Upon opening of the door, the cam will rotate against the stop member so that the spring will be forced to over-center position. Thereafter, the cam can disengage from the stop member, which has acted as a cam-follower, since the A different form of operating mechanism, and also spring, travelling over-center, will snap apart the movable arm from the fixed arm, the free ends of the arms being held together as previously explained. Upon closing of the door, and when the door has reached a certain position, the stop or cam follower member will again engage the cam, forcing the spring towards, and

over the center of the pivot pin in the other direction, however, so that the previously spread-apart arms will again close with a snap. Other arrangements are, of course, possible, depending on the eventual operation desired, the load-bearing capacity required, and the like.

The invention has been particularly illustrated and described in connection with under-sink cabinets, to support bags of the cuffed end type; various modifications and changes may be made.

I claim:

1. Door operated bag holder for mounting on a door hinged in a support frame means comprising:

a support bracket (10) adapted to be secured to the inner surface of a door;

a pair of open-ended arms (20, 30) adapted to be located in a horizontal plane having one end, each, secured to the bracket (10) and one end free;

pivot means (23) mounting at least one of said arms (20) on said bracket to move towards and away from the other arm;

spring means (40) secured to said movably mounted arm and mounted with respect to the pivot (23) of said one arm to travel over said pivot (23) upon movement of said arm (20) to hold the arm (20, 30) either closed or open, by toggle action;

and an operating means (50) to operatively engage said movablymounted arm (20) and adapted for mounting at a fixed point (F) on the support frame means;

said operating means (50) being effective on the movably mounted arm (20) to permit movement of said arm (20) away from the other (20) against the bias force of said resilient means (40) upon opening of said door.

2. Bag holder according to claim 1, in combination with a door mounted in a frame, said door having a hinge side and a striker side;

said bracket being secured to said door at the striker side with said arms pointing towards the hinge side.

3. Bag holder according to claim 1, wherein said operating means comprises a camming means secured to said movably mounted. arm and a cam engaging means is mounted on the frame of said door, engageable with said camming means on the movably mounted arm and moving said arm, upon swinging of the door, by engagement of said camming means and said cam engaging means.

4. Bag holder according to claim I, wherein both arms are articulated and each is hinged at a point intermediate its length.

5. Bag holder according to claim 1, in combination with a limp bag having an open mouth, said bag being formed with a cuffed end portion adjacent the mouth thereof forming a channel between the cuff and the walls of the bag;

the cuffed end portion and said channel being adapted to be slipped over said arms, so that the arms will fit into the channel and the bag may depend from said arms.

6. Bag holder according to claim 1, for use with a bag having a pair of wall portions;

one of the arms is rigid and is bent in a plane of movement of the other arm;

the other of said arms being'hinged intermediate its length and essentially adjacent the bend of said first arm, whereby, when the arms are closed, the hinged arm will follow the contour of the bent arm to hold the wall portions together and, when the arms are spread apart, the hinge will permit the arms assuming a relative position to provide an approximately parallelogram-shaped opening for the mouth of the bag.

7. Bag holder according to claim 1, wherein said operating means comprises an operating rod secured at one end to said movable arm;

bracket means adapted to be secured to the support frame means of the door adjacent the hinge side of the door and slidably retaining said operating rod; and stop means on said operating rod to be engaged by said bracket to move the arms upon swinging of the door, against the force of the spring until the spring reaches its over-center position, to then snap, to retain the arms either in open or closed position.

8. Door operated bag holder according to claim 1 in combination with a cabinet structure, said cabinet structure including said door and said support frame means. 

1. Door operated bag holder for mounting on a door hinged in a support frame means comprising: a support bracket (10) adapted to be secured to the inner surface of a door; a pair of open-ended arms (20, 30) adapted to be located in a horizontal plane having one end, each, secured to the bracket (10) and one end free; pivot means (23) mounting at least one of said arms (20) on said bracket to move towards and away from the other arm; spring means (40) secured to said movably mounted arm and mounted with respect to the pivot (23) of said one arm to travel over said pivot (23) upon movement of said arm (20) to hold the arm (20, 30) either closed or open, by toggle action; and an operating means (50) to operatively engage said movably mounted arm (20) and adapted for mounting at a fixed point (F) on the support frame means; said operating means (50) bEing effective on the movably mounted arm (20) to permit movement of said arm (20) away from the other (20) against the bias force of said resilient means (40) upon opening of said door.
 2. Bag holder according to claim 1, in combination with a door mounted in a frame, said door having a hinge side and a striker side; said bracket being secured to said door at the striker side with said arms pointing towards the hinge side.
 3. Bag holder according to claim 1, wherein said operating means comprises a camming means secured to said movably mounted arm and a cam engaging means is mounted on the frame of said door, engageable with said camming means on the movably mounted arm and moving said arm, upon swinging of the door, by engagement of said camming means and said cam engaging means.
 4. Bag holder according to claim 1, wherein both arms are articulated and each is hinged at a point intermediate its length.
 5. Bag holder according to claim 1, in combination with a limp bag having an open mouth, said bag being formed with a cuffed end portion adjacent the mouth thereof forming a channel between the cuff and the walls of the bag; the cuffed end portion and said channel being adapted to be slipped over said arms, so that the arms will fit into the channel and the bag may depend from said arms.
 6. Bag holder according to claim 1, for use with a bag having a pair of wall portions; one of the arms is rigid and is bent in a plane of movement of the other arm; the other of said arms being hinged intermediate its length and essentially adjacent the bend of said first arm, whereby, when the arms are closed, the hinged arm will follow the contour of the bent arm to hold the wall portions together and, when the arms are spread apart, the hinge will permit the arms assuming a relative position to provide an approximately parallelogram-shaped opening for the mouth of the bag.
 7. Bag holder according to claim 1, wherein said operating means comprises an operating rod secured at one end to said movable arm; bracket means adapted to be secured to the support frame means of the door adjacent the hinge side of the door and slidably retaining said operating rod; and stop means on said operating rod to be engaged by said bracket to move the arms upon swinging of the door, against the force of the spring until the spring reaches its over-center position, to then snap, to retain the arms either in open or closed position.
 8. Door operated bag holder according to claim 1 in combination with a cabinet structure, said cabinet structure including said door and said support frame means. 